During one of our recent Leadership Forums (Meeting the Challenge of Amalgamation in Sydney, February 2016) a presenter speaking about mental health asked the audience: ‘What springs to mind when I say mental health?’

The responses came thick and fast: depression, anxiety, illness, absenteeism.

‘That’s interesting,’ came the response from the presenter. ‘I said “mental health,” not “mental illness”.’

Should this be surprising? Many of us tend to think of mental health as something negative: the source of bad things, a dark unseen force, hidden and menacing. But, of course, like our physical health, mental health isn’t necessarily positive or negative. It is something that can be assessed, nurtured and improved. There are factors that we can predict will contribute to poor mental health. These factors may be psychological, biological, or environmental. Some might be subject to our control and some might not, including factors that are in the hands of other people.

These external factors are a continuing source of fascination for me and now must be on the agendas of all those people embarking on large organisational change. We spend vast amounts of time and energy actually at work, and of course we typically expend gigantic amounts of energy thinking about work when not actually ‘doing’ work. Work matters. So does our mental health. Where is the connection?

In New South Wales, local government affected by structural change is in an excruciating waiting period.